


Nadia's Halloween Request 2020

by AtlasSilvertongue



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Frankenstein AU, Nadia loves her monster, Other, Resurrection through dubious means, a deviation from Victor, modern witch!nadia x vampire!mc, nadia and mc goes to a haunted house
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27312619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtlasSilvertongue/pseuds/AtlasSilvertongue
Summary: Fics, drabbles and headcanons from my Nadia's Halloween Request 2020 on Tumblr (@nadiasatrinava). Completed requests: Frankenstein!AU, Haunted House & Witch!Nadia x Vampire!MCAll works feature Nadia x gn!MC
Relationships: Apprentice/Nadia (The Arcana), Nadia (The Arcana)/Original Character(s), Nadia (The Arcana)/Reader, Nadia (The Arcana)/You
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	1. Bring Me To Life

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr request: Nadia as Dr Frankenstein AU for Halloween please and thanks 🎃👻

It was a stormy night and the plan for her contraption is nearing its completion, Nadia is sure of it. She only needed to obtain the most important component of the experiment, MC. Her beloved darling MC who lays cold and still down the coldest room of the Palace dungeons as an effort to keep decay at a minimum. 

Nadia had collected their body from the abhorrent underbelly of the Lazaret herself the night before they were set to be burned along with the rest of them. She couldn’t stomach the idea of MC’s corpse being treated so perfunctorily, they deserved more than that. Deserved to be more than the ash coating the sands of that dreadful island. Deserved to be more than bones washed ashore.

Her desperation and grief have led her to this. She couldn’t wait for Asra to finish his ritual, the masquerade was months away and she loathed sitting maudlin with nothing to do but fiddle with her thumbs. She wouldn’t let her apathy take her dearest away again. No, this time she’ll make sure she is far more ardent with her actions. Asra’s plan would serve as a safety net to her own.

She’s careful enough to tighten each bolt of the contraption before she leaves her workshop in her Contemplation tower and makes her descent down the Palace dungeons using the secret passageways. Her trek down to the dungeons is short with her long hurried strides, time is of the essence for what she’s about to do next. 

MC’s body is covered in a single white sheet and perched on a metal slab. Nadia shivers as she enters the dark room, grasping for the lantern hanging by the hook. She ventures further into the room until she’s standing directly in front of her beloved’s corpse. She’s been here countless times but it had always felt disarming staring down at the corpse of someone who she cherished. 

MC had once been so vibrant and vivacious. Their peculiar charm radiating like the morning sun, lulling anyone close to their vicinity with feelings of warmth and serene delight. One almost wishes they could store it a bottle to be made to an elixir. Nadia thinks if it were, it would be utterly potent against her. But now they lay before her deathly still, pale as the sheet that covers them. She shakes herself out of her reveries. She was running out of time. 

She leans down and takes MC into her arms. The coldness of their skin seeps into her warmth, a sickly smell tickling her nose. The plague still brands their skin, red veins crawling up like pesky vines. Their face is gaunt and ashen, she could feel the sharpness of their bones protruding.

It took Nadia a few trials to perfect her methods and contraption, resulting in stitches and lines where MC’s skin and flesh were torn by the high voltage of lightning coursing through her contraption. It took some time to adapt her methods to using the right voltage. But she’d be damn if she let a minor inconvenience halt her progress. 

She carries MC up into her tower and gently lays them down against the iron slab, carefully securing and fastening their limbs in place. She runs through the motions until she’s satisfied with her work. She must achieve something beyond perfection, beyond human, beyond nature. 

“I will never let you go. Not without a fight. Never again” she says in a voice beyond a whisper, her thumb ghosting above their lower lip. They were icy to the touch and coloured a lonely blue. She frowns, remembering the time those same lips had felt warm and laced with intoxicating sweetness.

“I fear if I were to be without you for any longer I’d die” her tears fall into MC’s cheek and slowly cascades down their face. Nadia remembers the days she swallowed by grief and despair. The bile inducing desperation that clung to her each night MC laid cold under the dungeons. The sickening heartache each time her experiment hadn’t worked. The tormenting nights when she had to sew her MC back together resulted by her incompetence in succeeding in her tests, her tears clouding her vision. 

A crashing thunder snaps her musings and pitches her back to reality. That changes tonight. It was only a matter of waiting for the most opportune moment and pulling the lever. She moves away from MC and into the control panel, turning gears and pulling at the switch. Now all she needed was lighting to hit the receptor. 

And as luck would have it, she didn’t need to wait too long. Lightning struck the receptor and surged through the conductors when Nadia had pulled the lever. The electricity shocks MC’s corpse into animation. Their body convulsing against the torrent of pure energy. Blinding light violently permeates across the room, blinding Nadia until it recedes. 

Nadia is still clutching at the lever, knuckles white with force, by the time the room exhales into stillness. MC’s body continues to tremble and jerk, muscles contracting against the ghosts of electric waves. Then they too become still. 

Nadia lets out a frustrated huff and makes her way to untie MC from their bindings. She was in the process of untying the last buckle when MC’s eyes opened. Nadia isn’t sure whether her yelp was of horror or excitement, her palm felt clammy trying to undo the last buckle and set MC free. 

They watch her with scared and confused eyes, reminiscent of a hunted doe. Nadia is quick to reassure them with a soothing touch, taking them into the refuge of her arms and promising them safety. 

MC’s eyes still bear the red sclera of the plague and patches of skin claimed by discolouration but they were a thing of perfection in Nadia’s loving gaze. Her dearest MC back in her arms. She finds it easier to breathe, easier to let go of verisimilitude when the proof of miracles was right before her eyes. 

She’ll learn to ignore the horrifying look Asra will wear tomorrow along with the ghastly sound that escapes Julian’s lips when she comes down to greet them with her arms around her darling MC. She’ll live with the whispers and gossips of her necromancy and deals with the Devil. She knew the truth and her stance will never waiver. Not when MC lives before her. Not when she knew that their life was brought back by her own terrible will. 

Yes none of them matters now. All that matters is the person sitting before her, eyes blinking in recognition. 

“ _N….a..di..a”_ they say her name like a child learning their first word, tasting each letter with a rusty tongue. It brings Nadia a feeling so wondrous it leaves her being brimming with rapture. She brings their forehead together, cupping their face so tender like she’s afraid they’ll break at any moment. 

“Not even death can keep you away from me, my love” she looks into their eyes, her intense gaze holding a simultaneous promise and threat.

“I’ll destroy anyone who hurts you” she whispers the words against their lips, an oath of sorts. MC can’t help but shiver at her whispered violence. The rain almost drowns her words but MC feels the effect the same way. Nadia bites their bottom lip before she makes her last assurance to MC. 

_“You’re mine”_


	2. Haunted House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr Request: For Halloween, what about a local haunted house that apprentice takes Nadia to? But it turns out that the oh so stoic countess is terrified of spiders or mummies or something?? And gets flustered when she’s jump scared :)))

Nadia Satrinava does not get scared. Nope! She.Does.Not. She has the guts of steel on top of her iron will. She went toe to toe with the Devil. Confronted and chased away the ghost of her not-so-dead ex-husband (MULTIPLE OF TIMES). Wrestled a worm the size of a horse with a mouth brimming with razor-sharp teeth. The list of her own acts of bravery can go on and on. 

So when MC begged oh so nicely, batting their pretty little eyes and cutely pouting at her, asking for the both of them to visit the local Haunted House during the Harvest Festival she happily agreed to take them. She’s not one to decline an opportunity to make her dearest MC happy. 

“It’s a date, darling. How could I ever say no to you?” she happily purrs into their ear, cupping their face with both hands and placing butterfly kisses everywhere she could reach. MC giggles, allowing themselves to bask in Nadia’s affection. 

The sun is already setting by the time they’ve reached the Haunted House. Nadia is wearing her headscarf as a guise to hide her true identity, wanting to experience the novelty of a haunted house without the trappings and expectations of being the Countess. She’s got an arm around MC’s shoulders as they patiently await their turn to go in. She can feel MC’s excitement bubbling as they can’t seem to stay still, rocking back and forth. Their eagerness to go in is infectious, so much so Nadia finds herself grinning at MC. 

The woman in charge in the booth gives them the thumbs up and Nadia leads MC through the doors. The hallway is dark, the only light coming through the magically manifested moon peeking through the windows. The wooden floors creak a little too loudly with each step and there’s a clock ticking somewhere further down. 

The first ghoul jumps out from an archway with a booming yell. It makes MC jump and let out a little yelp. Nadia barely bats an eye but turns to MC with an easy laugh.

“Don’t worry, my dearest MC. I shall protect you” MC can’t help but laugh at her boldness, swatting Nadia at the shoulders. 

They make it through the rest of the Hunted House with relative ease and minimal yelling from MC. Nadia is as cool and collected as she was when she came in. Tightly squeezing MC’s shoulders as an act of comfort when a particular jumpscare gets the better of them. It isn’t until the last room that Nadia starts to feel unease. The room smelled of damp earth and there’s water trickling in the background. Nadia thinks she can see the ground moving, tiny little things crawling through the dirt to be precise. It makes Nadia’s skin crawl and spurs her feet to move faster. 

MC is in the middle of asking something when Nadia hears it. A series of hissing and the sound or razor teeth grinding against one another. The little slivers of light coming through the cracks allow her to see a glimpse of whatever was in the room with them. 

A mouth brimming with shark-like teeth breaking into segments, something akin to a blooming flower. It was rapidly oscillating towards them, its mouth contracting at every scream and spewing slime at every hiss. The initial shock prompts Nadia to take a few steps back. She loses her footing and feels herself falling back, taking MC with her. She lands on her elbows with MC on her chest. She can’t tear her eyes away from the monstrous worm making its way to them but she can feel something crawling up her arms. Tiny little maggots were crawling up her arms and burrowing themselves inside her clothes. Cold fear seize her by the throat and she can’t help the blood-curdling scream that comes out of her mouth. 

She swiftly forces herself to stand up, aggressively brushing off the worms that clung to her. She’s still hyperventilating when MC warns her that the big one was getting closer. 

Nadia has had enough! She lets out a frustrated yell, “I AM SO SICK OF WORMS!”

It had been purely out of reflex when she swings a punch right into the temple of the worm. The worm topples over with a heavy thud, Nadia standing over it with her fists still clenched and panting. 

The head of the worm gives out from the impact, revealing a man knocked out cold. MC looks at the half-man half-worm and then back to Nadia. There is a moment of silence until MC can’t stop the gut-wrenching laughter falling from their lips, tears filling their eyes.

“Damn, Nadi. Remind me to never get into a fistfight with you” MC can hardly form the words coherently in between laughter when Nadia lets out a huff. 

Sometime during the carriage ride back home, Nadia mutters something about banning worms on the next Harvest Festival. 

“We had fun didn’t we” MC kisses her scowl away and nuzzles further into her neck. 

“I suppose it had been fun… until the worm incident” Nadia admits sheepishly, sending MC to another fit of laughter. Nadia can’t help but think she’ll crawl through worm-infested dirt just to see MC laugh like this. But she’ll save that thought as a last resort. She’s got other things in her arsenal to keep her dearest happy. All of them non-worm related, she thinks with a sigh of relief.


	3. Modern Witch!Nadia x Vamp!MC Headcanons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr Request: Your writing is always so lovely and beautiful, I can't wait to read all things you will write about Halloween!! Can I request a vampire MC with witch Nadia?

  * Humans and monsters co-exist in this world, though not necessarily as peaceful as some might like. 
  * Nadia is the CEO and owner of _The High Priestess Inc.,_ a company that deals with the production of enchanted merchandise used in domestic and industrial settings for and by all supernaturals. The idea of starting a company focused on catering for supernaturals had come about when she met MC. 
  * They hadn’t been so forthright with being a vampire. Though the fact that they only agreed to meet during the night gave Nadia a little inkling of their true nature. MC was turned to a vampire a few years back when their friend made a deal with the Devil to bring them back to life. The ritual had brought them back to life but they had to pay the price. They’re still getting used to living as a vampire, prone to accidents caused by the naivety of a brain that was once human. They nearly burned when they stepped into the sunlight the day after their awakening. It made them adamant to only carry out business once the sunsets.   
  

  * MC was a renowned magician before they turned. Nadia made an appointment for a potion consultation, noting the weird hours they keep.   
  

  * Nadia was born from a long line of royal witches, her intuition was powerful than most. A gift that sends some cowering away from her sharp gaze. She had been curious the moment MC met her eyes with an intense gaze of their own.   
  

  * The fires of their budding romance were stoked with moonlight dinner dates, midnight swimming at the sparkling shores of Prakra and nightly shopping trips.   
  

  * There were the odd spontaneous midnight coffee dates when Nadia loses track of time tinkering away on a new project only to be distracted by MC’s increasing online presence during the night. MC would text asking her why she’s up this late with several sad face emojis and she’d reply in that prim manner of hers. She’s easily swayed into meeting MC for coffee though MC always seems to arrive first and have ordered their own drink and hers, never letting her buy their own. She’ll always affectionately huff at that. “I was supposed to be the one spoiling you, my dearest MC” MC would simply shrug and smile behind their cup.   
  

  * Nadia’s day is brindled with duties and tasks required of a royal which leaves her too exhausted at night. It made her a little frustrated she couldn’t see MC as much as she’d like. She slowly broached the topic of seeing each other during the daylight, telling MC she’s adorned her penthouse with blackout curtains, even going as far as enchanting them to shield the whole house from sunlight, the silvers and garlic are put away and disposed of. She picks MC up in her sleek sports car with tinted windows and a necklace crested with lapis lazuli nestled in velvet on top of the passenger seat. The necklace is infused with magic, enabling MC to walk in the sun for a few hours before the charm needs to be renewed. Nadia takes all the precaution for her beloved. _She can’t have her dearest MC turned to ashes at the sidewalk now could she?  
  
_
  * They’re nearly a year into their relationship when Nadia decides to surprise MC with a matching pair of cellphones. The two of them had been so shocked when MC’s hand sizzled and burned the moment they laid hands on their phone. Nadia later had discovered the little pieces of silver within the phone’s components that triggered the reaction.   
  

  * Nadia had apologised profusely and vowed to check all electronics for any hint of silver. She designed and patented a device the size of your palm that scan the room for any traces of silver or iron no matter how minuscule.   
  

  * The next blueprint she designed was for glass panels that gradually increased their tint according to the strength of sunlight. She designed devices to make MC’s life more comfortable, making sure to enchant that necklace of theirs before she left for work and that all the curtains were closed.   
  

  * This had been the catalyst to her decision of opening The High Priestess. Her company gradually expanded with demands and more of her stores started to pop up everywhere. Her merchandise range from fireproof paint, in accordance to the news of humans and monsters alike setting monsters like changelings houses on fire, to clocks that tell the phases of the moon that sets a reminder for werewolves when the next full moon (it might even be Alexa and Google home compatible. Alexa reminds all the werewolves that it’s a full moon tomorrow and asks if they’d like to put thicker ropes and chains in their amazon prime baskets lol). She’s in the process of creating a substitute for iron and silver for electronic and structural purposes.  
  

  * She prefers to be the only one MC drinks from. She watches what she eats and looks after her body (she knows she’s _succulent_ ), waving away MC’s worries and whispering how much she trusts them against their lips. She’s got vials of potions to restore her blood and health just in case but she knows MC won’t take more than they need. It’s honestly an extension of her gift-giving and wanting to spoil MC. Why would she let MC suffer drinking the blood of poor quality when _she knows she can offer the best?_ She calls MC _her baby vamp.  
  
_
  * MC sets up Nadia’s breakfast every morning before they head to bed, leaving notes, flowers and whatever gift they found the night before. Nadia thinks it’s the perfect way to start her day.  
  

  * MC works as a blood lab technician. They have certain _assets_ for accurate and swift results. Chandra hoots back at the centrifuge machine every time MC operates it, this quirk of hers never fails to make MC laugh. 



**Bonus** :

Chandra likes to cuddle up to MC during the day. They get along very well seeing they’re both nocturnal. MC likes to take Chandra to their midnight adventures of collecting herbs and magical trinkets for Nadia. Nadia gets a little jealous when MC retells stories of their silly little adventures and the supernaturals they encounter. Though she’s grateful Chandra keeps an eye out for MC each night and when she’s away during the day. 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come and say hi over on [Tumblr](https://nadiasatrinava.tumblr.com)!
> 
> HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


End file.
